The J Word 4: Nothing But Jesus

Will anyone see my life today and know that I am a follower of Jesus? And, if they ask me about my Jesus, how will I respond?

In our summer look at Personal Evangelism, we have covered two very important initial steps: (1) Be Social – we have to be out and among people, building relationships in order to share the gospel; and (2) Look For Common Ground – as we meet people we must recognize the common ground we share with them through venues like work, or ballparks or grocery stores. Common ground can also be through shared demographic, through life history, through common venue, anywhere. But, we must be looking for ground on which to build relationship and begin faith discussions.

And, as socialization and common ground yield to conversations, when and how should we turn the conversation to faith? Or, should we? How do we get conversations off hometowns and hobbies, and toward the gospel. Romans 5:8, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-10, Romans 10:13.

First, let me remind you that as a believer, the Holy Spirit resides within me and you. He is real, He is alive, and He never sleeps. He is God within us. (Acts 5:3-4).

Second, the Holy Spirit is part of the trinity with God and Jesus. God in Three Persons. And, the Holy Spirit is burdened for the masses of the unsaved. Creation is groaning and weeping all around us as God is burdened for the restoration of His creation. Look at Luke 19:41 – Jesus is approaching Jerusalem surrounded by His followers who love Him. And, yet He comes to see the city and begins to cry. He is crying because He knows the people – the Jewish leaders – have refused God’s offer of salvation. And, those leaders are leading people to that sad end. They would rather live in pain, live in the world, than know the peace of following Jesus. As Jesus weeps for those who reject Him; the Holy Spirit within each of us weeps for the unsaved, too.

As the Holy Spirit, within each believer, grieves for the unsaved, that sadness will be very real to us. Tears may or may not come to us, but the pain, the longing, the burden will afflict us, too. 

Have you ever said, "The Lord has burdened me for so and so" or "I am burdened for him or her"? Well, the reality is that you are feeling the pain of the Holy Spirit crying out for you to be His vessel, His mouthpiece, His witness. The times I have been in that place, I have gone sleepless, I have been to tears, and I have been restless. What joy to know that God is alive in me when I feel that way about people and especially about the unsaved!

Do you feel the Holy Spirit calling you to others, and especially to the unsaved? I hope so, and here’s why: If the Bible is true, and the gospel is true, all of us will fall into one of three groupings:

1. Those who say, “I feel the Holy Spirit crying out within me for others, and I am responding.”
2. Those who say, “I feel the Holy Spirit crying out within me, but I am not equipped to respond or I lack the courage to respond.” (This is a good response, and one of the reasons it is so valuable to be among other believers in Sunday School or a faith community. It's important to be on a discipleship journey, but the journey must bear fruit. The excuse of not responding won’t hold up for long.)
3. Those who say, “I never feel any of this; I don’t know what you talking about.” Sadly, these are unsaved people. It is impossible, I believe, to have Almighty God living within you and yet never feel a burden for the unsaved. If you are reading this, I pray you hear the calling of Jesus on your life and confess Him as Savior before men.

But, let's look at numbers 1 and 2, above. Listen to Paul’s writing in Romans 9:1-3, “In the presence of Christ, I speak with utter faithfulness – I do not lie – and my conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm that what I am saying is true. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people . . . I would be willing to be forever cursed – cut off from Christ! – if that would save them.”

Oh, if I could take my faith that seriously – that I would be willing to give up my own salvation to introduce those I love to Jesus!

Brookwood Baptist Church is the church of my childhood – a little country church on Brookwood Road, where every mailbox for two miles once had the same surname (Vaughan), and every row of the cemetery across the street carries the name  Vaughan.

My Granny used to tell stories of all-day worship, families coming together at the church for morning services, then staying to eat and share picnic lunches, and then congregating again for all-afternoon singings until dusk. And, the theme of the day was not marriage enrichment, or parenting classes, or praying for businesses to survive, or how to manage money – NO! – the theme of the day – every Sunday – was simply Jesus. Those who knew Him worshipped Him, and cried out prayers for those who did not. And, deacons – one to each family – would publicly confront those who may or may not know Jesus as Savior. Children were not excused from it.

There was an urgency to talking about faith; there was an urgency to talk about sinfulness and salvation from it; and, there was a spirit alive to help one another from day-to-day.

We have lost that urgency to talk about Jesus, worried about whose feelings we will hurt. We have lost that urgency to hear the inner-weeping of the Holy Spirit for those we love, and we have lost the courage to talk to them – from our own dark places – about sinfulness and salvation from it. We would rather "go along to get along" than confront those we love. We would rather talk around sin than confront it directly, facing our own shortcomings and helping others find Jesus despite it. Quite frankly, I am willing to risk any Earthly relationship if it will help me introduce someone to Jesus. I believe it is perfectly healthy for a family's Jesus conversations to move that family into Christian-based counseling.

So, how do we insert Jesus conversations into the common ground of our relationships?

First, through our actions.
1. We can arouse spiritual interest by our example. Is there anything in my life – any word or deed – that may cause others to question their faith? Forget all the excuses. We each need to look in the hard mirror and say, “I have a testimony; is it a testimony that honors my Jesus?”
2. We can arouse spiritual interest by showing kindness and compassion to all – everyone without exception. I can harbor absolutely no racial or social prejudices that prevent the Holy Spirit from working through me. Be reminded of the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at The Well in John 4. There were all kinds of social prejudices that might have prevented Jesus from having a faith conversation with the woman. But, those prejudices did not hold up.
3. By our own faith and hope. A worry wart, a depressed person, an angry person, a lonely person, a woe-is-me person will never be able to build relationship, and talk about Jesus because that person can’t get beyond themselves. You and I are not important; we are dead to what this world calls important. Only the living, breathing Holy Spirit within me is important, and my only purpose is to live positively, kindly and encouragingly so others will want to know how I am able to do it. Then, I can talk about my Jesus.  1 Peter 3:1-2, 15. “Your Godly lives will speak to them better any words. They will be won over by watching your pure, godly behavior . . . And, if asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.”

Second, it’s through our words
1. Lean on the Holy Spirit to guide you.
2. Talk about the mess of the world and use that to talk about the Hope for it.
3. As people talk about their pain, tell them about the story of Jesus walking on the water – in the storm – and calling Peter to Him. The storm was calmed when Peter focused on Jesus. Matthew 14:29.
4. Invite people to church, but know that the church has failed many people. Focus less on the church and more on the people that you know. Encourage them to meet you and be their guide through the day. Read Paul's testimony: Acts 13:16-22.

The J Word 3: Find Common Ground

John 4: 1-8: “Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is baptizing and making more disciples than John” (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them – his disciples did). So, he left Judea to return to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually, he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.”

This summer, we are taking a linear, step-by-step look at personal evangelism – me and you telling another person about Jesus, and where Jesus is within our respective lives.

If we had a job description as followers of Jesus, we would see the requirement to love God, love others, and make disciples. So, it’s not an option – followers of Jesus will tell people about Jesus.

Last week, we looked at Step One: Be Social. We have to get out among people in order to have opportunity for talking about Jesus. We have established that Jesus was constantly on the move, and constantly around people. He was social.

Okay, now I’m out and around people. What’s next?

Establish A Common Interest

In John’s account of the woman at the well, above, Jesus didn’t rush to say, “Well, here I am.” No, he first established a common ground with the woman. They were both at the well, and they were both in search of water. But, there’s something else in there, too. Jesus took the initiative to speak first, and get things started. I think that’s very important to personal evangelism – the notion of taking the initiative to seize the opportunity around common ground.

Oh, I’m not suggesting that I’ve always been bold and brave. No, quite the contrary. For 90 percent of my life thus far, I would have approached the well, gave a pleasant nod to the woman at the well, got my own water, and kept on walking.

And, I would have lied about following Jesus in the process. Jesus, as we see, stopped and took initiative to talk about common ground he shared with the woman at the well.

Can’t we do that? What if we approached the grocery store, the golf course, the tennis courts, schools, work, ballparks, gymnasiums, neighborhood pools, neighborhood card games, church buildings, the lake, the hardware store, the restaurants . . . everywhere . . . looking for the common ground on which to begin conversations with other people. Let’s say I’m in the bleachers, watching a ballgame – well, that’s common ground with everyone around me. So, I take the initiative to introduce myself, talk about the game or the sport, and that leads to questions about vocation, home life, and even church. And, on this common ground, a relationship – even a temporary relationship is born – and the Holy Spirit moves the conversation toward Jesus. Can’t we buy into that? What does it say about my faith life if I know I should talk about Jesus, but reject the opportunity to do it? Gulp.

In April, Vicki and I were at a Braves baseball game. Two young couples sat down behind us. We couldn’t help but listen. One couple was from Alabama and the other from Tennessee. They had common ground around the ballgame, around being from the Deep South, and also around their family size. Both couples were newlyweds. Their conversations began about the Braves and baseball, and then they talked about their respective weekends in Atlanta. They talked about what they had done and where they were staying. These conversations led to talking about their hometowns, and that led to conversations about work, and someone dropped a word about “church.” And, that’s all it took. The Alabama couple was very involved in church; the Tennessee couple had not found a church as a young newlywed couple. The Alabama couple, having built several innings of common ground, shared what they had found in churches, and this all led to – yes – the Alabama woman stating how much she loved Jesus. After the game, I listened as the they shared e-mail addresses and the Alabama couple pledged prayer support. They parted as friends – not in an awkward way, but in a way knitted by the Holy Spirit.

Common Ground.

I’m not suggesting any of this is easy. In fact, it’s very difficult.

I will tell you what works for me, and you can pray for the Lord to convict you as He needs you to step into building common ground with others.
Traditions
Take The Initiative to speak first, and let the Holy Spirit take over.

I put myself in public places, and look for opportunities to speak to people. Then, I trust the Holy Spirit to guide the conversation, knowing at any time I could be prompted to talk about Jesus. I am ready. I am willing. I am nervous. But, I am trusting.

I have found it easier, at times, to talk about church and let the Holy Spirit take that discussion on to faith in Jesus. Talking about my church is not threatening, and church often easily leads to faith. Sometimes, I have to jump right in and talk about Jesus. But, I let go of it and just the let the Holy Spirit use me.

Just look for the common ground in your day-to-day journey. On that common ground, begin conversations.

Get on the FAST track to Common Ground faith conversations:

Family

Activities

Shared Experiences / Locations

The J Word 2: Be Social

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus is walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew. They were fishermen by trade, and on this day, they were throwing nets into the water. They were two ordinary men with no predisposition to be pastors, teachers or missionaries. But, Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And, they left their nets and followed him.

Jesus was walking; Jesus was social. Jesus was among people.

In John 4:1-6, Scripture says, “Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them – his disciples did). So, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually, he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon, a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.”


Jesus was on the move, baptizing people and making disciples. Jesus stopped to talk with people. Jesus was social.

As we move out of our comfort zones, and begin talking about Jesus, we can anchor our journey in these verses. Jesus was social; His followers must be social, too.

I have not always been comfortable talking and writing about Jesus because, honestly, I wanted everyone to like me. Someone (can't remember their name) once told me, "When you start talking about Jesus, by name, none of your friends and family will ever come around you." Jesus - the very name of Jesus - has always polarized people. His name draws a line in the sand and we must choose – belief or unbelief. In Matthew 8:18, the disciple writes, “When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his (followers) to cross to the other side of the lake.” Personally, I believe Matthew gives us a metaphor. Disciples must choose a side and make it known.


Talking and writing about Jesus takes us off the fence, and puts us on one side of the lake. Declaring the Lordship of Jesus in our lives separates us from those who don't believe in Him, and that may well include dear friends and family, neighbors and coworkers. For most of my life, I resisted getting off the fence. In 2007, I made a decision to take a stand – to really move to the other side of the lake, and to help bring others over, introducing others to Jesus.


Go back to the verses above. Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, and says, "Follow me." In circulating among people, Jesus is making disciples. His encounter with the woman at the well leads to an invitation to follow Him. Jesus doesn't model an isolated life. While we are called to take a public, confident and confessional stand for Him, we also dedicate our lives to introducing others to our new side of the lake. But, to do that, we must be social – to be “out there” among people. We must have our eyes wide open to talk about Jesus.

And, there are no excuses worthy of failing to be among those who need Jesus.

The woman at the well was a Samaritan. Simply, Samaritans were race-mixers and Jews typically hated them because of it. Samaritans represented the race-mixing of Jews with pagans. On top of that, the woman at the well was sleeping around. Jesus encounters her and begins an exchange about faith, and He did so without prejudice. Jesus saw people as God saw them; and we should see people as God sees them, too. We must face our prejudices and leave those behind.

Twice, in the early story of the woman at the well, we see that Jesus was tired and weary from his travels. But, it did not stop Him from talking to someone about faith. As someone who is following Jesus’ example for living, well, no excuse – not tiredness, not hunger, not stress – nothing can get in the way of my desire and interest in talking about Jesus.


How far do we go in being social? Being social does not mean compromising morals and values to do so. I do believe our faith journey will take us to uncomfortable places and uncomfortable situations. In calling the disciple Matthew, Jesus faced ridicule to socialize with the hated tax collectors. If you don’t have unsaved people in your life, what good is your life in following Jesus? So, be social, but be careful. I tell my boys, all the time “Protect your witness.” Lean on the Lord as to where you should go and how you should behave.. Listen to His leading. We must be “in the world” to talk about Jesus, but we can’t be “of the world” and expect people to see His reflection in our lives. Pray for discernment – that’s the best and only counsel I can give you. When we are pursuing God with a goal of introducing people to Jesus, He will always provide us just the right place to be and just the right thing to say. Lean on Him.

1. Commit each day to following Jesus and being out among people. We do not worship a God of isolation. This is a calling on the lives of everyone – man and woman, husband and wife, father and mother, son and daughter, sister and brother. 

2. Approach everywhere you go as if God has one person there who needs to hear about Jesus from you. See restaurants, Wal-Mart, the grocery store, the post office, the workplace, the golf course, the tennis courts, and the ballparks – see everywhere as a mission opportunity.
3. See every person as if that person is Jesus to be loved and served.

4. Pray for God to give you clarity in words and actions, and pray for God to bind back Satan’s influence.
5. When presented the opportunity, just tell people why you follow Jesus.

There is one fact.

You will never introduce someone to Jesus if you aren’t out among people.

And, if I’m not among people, talking about Jesus, I’m not really following Jesus myself.

The J Word 1: Light In Darkness

In April 1991, I was unemployed. Every single meaningful relationship in my life was negatively affected by it. And, the swirl was beginning to affect my health. I went to my family doctor, in Atlanta, and said, “I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like, but I may be having one.” He stopped short of an official diagnosis, but he did prescribe medicine.

It was a dark, dark place.

A well-respected mentor in my life invited me to meet with him at a McDonald’s in Athens, GA. I drove an hour to get there, and we sat in the midday quiet of that McDonald’s. My agenda was for him to listen, and maybe help me get back on my feet.
He listed and listened, and then said to me, “Scott, where is Jesus in all of this?”

Where was Jesus?

I confessed Jesus as my Savior in 1968, and I knew I was a believer.

But, in 1991, where was Jesus in this current storm? And, how had I misplaced Him? How had I lost fellowship with Almighty God? What had I done to turn my back on my Savior? At what point did I start listening to the attractive, sweet voice of Satan, and buy the lie? (I can now point you to the exact time of my life when that happened).

Jesus sent my friend to meet me at that McDonald’s, and I like to describe it this way: It was like being in a dark room and finding my friend, who had a flashlight. He turned on the light, pointed it forward, and told me to follow it. The light was Jesus.

My life was changed forever. That encounter at McDonald’s led to a series of days through which I fell to my face and surrendered the rest of my life to Jesus.

Oh sure, it’s not been a perfect 20 years; there have been steps forward and steps backward. I’ve slipped and stumbled – we all do it. There is no perfect life journey in step with Jesus because this world prohibits it. But, my life was changed because I was restored with Jesus. And, while the pressure and stress of life’s storm was and is around me, the cross became and is my anchor in it and Jesus has brought unmistakable peace.

I wouldn’t lie to you. Life without Jesus equals chaos, confusion, fear, anger, loneliness, isolation, and suffocation. Life with Jesus doesn’t remove the swirl of this world, but life with Jesus does bring love, peace, hope, faith, courage, patience, wisdom and encouragement.

My life was changed because a friend recognized my pain, and loved me enough to interject the J-word: “Scott, where is Jesus in all of this?”

This summer 2012, we are going to talk a lot about Jesus. We are going to get comfortable with talking about Jesus. And, we are going to learn about our responsibility to be one of those holding the flashlights. We are also going to look in the mirror, and ask, “Where am I with Jesus?”

Four Haunting Things To Remember
1. As a follower of Jesus, I have no choice but to talk about Jesus. If I am ashamed to talk about Jesus, Jesus will be ashamed to talk to God about me. (Mark 8:38). If I’m uncomfortable talking about Jesus, I must do all that I can to get comfortable. That’s what we hope to accomplish this summer. Let’s all assume we are in the first grade. We are all learning together. We don’t jump from first grade to high school graduation – we’ll use the summer to grow together and get comfortable talking about Jesus. Mark 16:15 reminds us that we each have a responsibility to go into all the world and take Jesus to every person. This is the call for every believer – not just preachers, teachers and missionaries.
2. Everyone needs to hear about Jesus. I consider everyone to be unsaved. I’m not pointing a finger at others by saying that; I’m pointing a finger at myself. If I consider everyone to be unsaved, it heightens the urgency for me to talk about Jesus and be ready to talk to everyone. Some will not know Him at all; others will know Him, and, because of life’s pain, will be out of fellowship with Him. Everyone can be boosted by hearing the name of Jesus today. What if God sends a person to me, today, and I don’t seize the opportunity to talk about Jesus, and that person dies? I must be ready to talk about Jesus. I challenge myself this way: God has someone who needs to hear Jesus from me every day. Am I listening? Am I ready? Am I really following Jesus if I live in ignorance or apathy?
3. You and I can’t save anyone. All we are called to do is introduce people to Jesus. You and I can’t save anyone from the wrath of God. Only Jesus can do that. So, we don’t measure success or failure on someone’s reaction to Jesus. I just introduce Jesus, tell what Jesus means to me and my life, answer questions, and offer to pray for people in Jesus’ name. If I don’t know the answers, I find them for people. It’s okay to admit that you don’t know all the answers, but you know where to find them through Scripture and the church. Let the Holy Spirit lead you in your conversations. Sometimes, the Spirit will press you to say, “Would you like Jesus to be your Savior, too?” You will know the moment; don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about the reaction. If it’s “no,” then say, “Well, if you get to that place in your life, please call me.”
4. Satan hates you and everyone you love. I won’t lie to you. When you and I become Christian Soldiers, Satan takes notice. Most of Satan’s attacks aren’t on the scale of 911. Most of Satan’s attacks are creeping up and whispering in our ear. He plants the seeds of self-doubt, self-pity, self-examination, self-love, selfishness, self-awareness, and self-esteem. He gets us looking in the mirror and rationalizing why we shouldn’t or couldn’t talk about Jesus. And, he paralyzes us from mentioning Jesus to the person God is sending today. And, then Satan paralyzes the next day, and then for a week, and then for a month, and then for a year, and then for a decade. And, soon, we are in that place where I was in 1991 – my faith paralyzed; my life overcome with pain. My friends: Talk about Jesus anyway; pray for God to bind back Satan from your day and trust God to do it.

So, here we go. It’s going to be a boot-camp summer.